"Yeah, you could have like cool forts and judges and cannons and lots of snowballs and …”

"Hold on Kiddo, the Olympics are more about friendly competition. Not so much, you know … fighting.

"How about saucer course sledding?” Michael asks.

"Sort of. Here, let me show you the luge.” I open up YouTube and locate footage from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. “You were 4 years old when this Olympics happened.”

"That’s kind of like a saucer.”

"Why do they have Olympics?” Jane our 6-year-old comes in to watch too.

"It’s so we know who is the best —” I begin.

"In the whole world?” Jane asks.

"That’s right. It’s also a way to bring everyone from all over the world together as friends.”

"So no snowball fights?” Michael interjects.

"I bet they do that on the side.”

"Oh yeah.”

I’ve been prepping our kids for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea. They seem particularly fascinated by those Olympians that happen to come from our area.

"So Jamie Anderson, that we met … she really lives here?” Jane asks.

"That’s right.” I answer.

"Wow.”

"There are a whole bunch of other Olympians from our area too. Mommy even taught one of them at school.”

"Mommy’s that old?” Jane asks.

It’s not just my children. The winter Olympics hold a special place in the hearts of all Reno and Tahoe locals. Every time we drive past the flames burning at the mouth of Squaw Valley or read yet another name of an Olympian who trains or lives in our region, we feel it. We feel the magic connection between Reno-Tahoe and the world. We feel the need to again one day be hosts to the Olympics.

"Do you guys want the Olympics to be here, in Tahoe?” I ask Michael and Jane.

"Oh yeah,” Michael answers. “I want to watch that bob thing on the sled with the crashes.”

Personally, I would love to have my kiddos experience a Tahoe Olympics. We’d volunteer and attend races and could even host athletes’ families. It would be something that our children would remember for the rest of their lives.

"But Daddy, I thought you wanted the tourists to incinerate in the fireworks?” Jane displays her uncanny ability to remember my cringe-worthy utterances.

Like a lot of locals, there are plenty of times when I’d prefer if Tahoe was kept secret, but …

"Well, Honey, when the Olympics come to an area, it’s not just a bunch of people partying and leaving trash. It’s athletics and celebration. The visitors know the world is watching; they are like ambassadors.”

"They put their arms back in doors?” Jane wonders. “Is that like the bobsled?”

"No.” I smile. “Ambassador means someone who knows we are looking not just at them, but at the entire country they come from.”

Michael joins in, “Yeah Dad, when they get a gold medal, it’s like their country does too.”

"That’s right, Buddy.”

We’re ready for the Olympics to come. Reno is ready to show off their new image as an adventure-sports mecca and fill up their innumerable hotel rooms. Tahoe is ready to spread the venues around our many resorts. Skier and border-cross at Sugarbowl. Bumps at Kirkwood. Aerials at Diamond Peak. Sierra slopestyle. Squaw slalom. Homewood halfpipe. And… my personal daydream: Heavenly hosting the downhill, not from Olympic chair, but all the way from Sky to Ski Run. That’s right, 10,000’ to almost 6,400.’ It would be the longest most insane downhill in the history of the games and all that would be necessary is a bridge over the canyon by Powderbowl lift. With a little ingenuity connecting Upper Mombo with Roundabout, we’d have a heart-palpitating, thigh-enflaming, sublime 3600-vertical-foot course from Ridge Run all the way to Pistol and Cal Base. This would even surpass the infamous Lauberhorn downhill in Switzerland. Okay, I digress. Back to the sales pitch:

"Alright, kids,” I say with sternness. “Why should the Olympics come to Tahoe?”

Michael looks a little confused now that we’re not discussing crashes or arms in doors, but Jane just stares straight at me as if the answer was always obvious and says, “We’d be really good at it.”

G.W. Miller is a full-time resident of South Lake Tahoe and author of The Elixir of Yosemite. Out now on Amazon and available locally. To learn more or respond to columns visit www.mcbehm.com or email mcbehmbooks@gmail.com.